You might remember that I attended a Trabucchi d’Illasi wine tasting recently in Munich at Restaurant L’Amar at which I tried several outstanding wines. The two best were their 2006 Amarone and their 2006 Recioto della Valpolicella.

Now if an Amarone is served at a wine tasting then it comes usually last. At the Trabucchi wine tasting that was not the case. Giuseppe Trabucchi was brave enough to serve another wine after it – the Recioto della Valpolicella. It turned out to be a good idea. I fell in love with their Amarone already so now I’m in love with two wines. Read the rest to discover why:

Recioto della Valpolicella is manufactured with the same grapes as Amarone is – Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Oseleta. The grapes get air-dried from September until March. During this procedure they lose around 80% of their weight. Now you can imagine how many grapes it takes to produce Recioto and just like with Amarone only the best grapes are used for Recioto della Valpolicella.

Trabucchi’s Recioto ages first in french oak before being transferred into smaller barrique barrels until it’s ready for bottling.

Like all wines of the wine tasting, the Recioto was decanted for around three hours.

In the glass, this Recioto della Valpolicella has a deep dark color that goes toward blackberries. On the nose there are many aromas. Similar to the Amarone just much more intense – and Amarone is already intense! There were heavy aromas of blackcurrant, ripe cherry, and raspberry, a little bit of blueberry, some caramel, cinnamon and a hint of dark chocolate. Might have been one of the most interesting bouquets that I found on the nose for a long time.

Alcohol by volume was label listed at 15%.

After taking a sip I felt a fruity warmness in my mouth. The wine was sweet (duh!), smooth and rather complex. I tasted some of the fruits that I smelled on the nose. The Recioto had a lingering finish, which was so persistently that I could taste most of the notes for an incredible long time. Trabucchi’s Recioto della Valpolicella is the perfect sweet wine.

Best served together with cheese or cantuccini. If you serve the wine together with a dessert then make sure that it is not too sweet since the wine is already pretty sweet. A semifreddo might work, too.

Let’s come to the awards: best overall Italian red wine awarded by Luca Maroni in his 2013 edition and 95/100 points in his 2011 edition (the 2005 vintage won best overall Italian sweet wine in 2010), 5 “Grappoli” from BIBENDA (new name of the Duemilavini wine guide) and 2 glasses from the Gambero Rosso.

And now let’s come to the price. The bottle is a small containing 500ml. 49€ is the price. If you calculate the price of a regular bottle (which does not exist) it would cost you 73.50€. The wine can be bought directly from Trabucchi’s official online shop (where it costs a bit less but you have to add shipping and right now there is only the 2005 vintage available)

There is no doubt that I recommend this outstanding wine. Recioto della Valpolicella from Trabucchi d’Illasi is a wine for the special occasions – just like their Amarone. If you tried it then let share your experience. Mine was as you can tell overwhelmingly great.

Recioto della Valpolicella is not as famous as Amarone but clearly a well-known wine. Like I explained in the review and like talkavino said to produce Recioto you need a lot of grapes. The grapes tend to lose 80% of their weight before they get used in wine production.
Like with every product there are different types of qualities which greatly affects the price but in general Recioto della Valpolicella is pricy due to it’s high production costs.

To answer your question regarding the price of the ticket: It was just 25€ to get in, to try five different wines and to eat little snacks. The winery for sure didn’t make any profit with this event. It was more of a “get to know our wines” event. After the tasting the wines were available for purchase.

Definitely sounds like the wine to try! Great description! But as far as price is concerned, I’m not surprised at all – if we think about haw many grapes and labor you need to produce single bottle of such a concentrated wine versus the regular wine, it all make sense.

If you find Trabucchi in the US (i know they sell their wines in Canada) then you should consider trying their Recioto and/or Amarone. I guarantee you won’t regret it. For the Canadian market they have a “younger & cheaper” Amarone. I haven’t tried the wine and therefore wouldn’t recommend it.

You’re right about the high production costs for Recioto. That’s exactly why it costs a lot. Giuseppe Trabucchi explained at the wine tasting that they have to handpick all the grapes, too. Otherwise they would get ruined and then they would only be able produce must or cheap wines out of them.

i’ve drank trabucchi’s 2005 valpolicella recioto before. i think it was named terre cereolo or something like that. was a good wine. if luca maroni awarded the new 2006 vintage the best overall wine of italy then i will really have to try it. not many can say that they tried the best italian wine of a certain year..